Largest conservation area in the world

09mei2012
Source: WNF
Mid-March marked the opening of the world’s largest, trans-boundary conservation area. It spans portions of five countries, is ten times the size of the Netherlands, and offers safety to many well-known African animal species.
Starting in 2006, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe have been collaborating on this ambitious nature conservation project. The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, KAZA for short, has been realised with the help of the World Wildlife Fund(WWF) and the Peace Parks Foundation.

The agreement was finally signed in 2011. KAZA now connects 36 existing national parks and reserves. As many fences as possible have been removed; the game can now move along their migration routes without barriers. Tourists, as well, can travel through the entire park without running into border posts, which makes KAZA a promising destination for ecotourism. WWF and Peace Parks expect that the combination of nature conservation and tourism will stimulate socio-economic development and stability in the region.

Thousands of plant and animal species can be seen in KAZA, including giraffe, buffalo, lion, leopard, cheetah, black rhinoceros, wild dog, gnu and various species of antelope. In addition, the largest elephant population in Africa, comprised of more than 300,000 individuals, is at home there. The park also features several unique natural sites, such as the Victoria Falls on the Zambia-Zimbabwe border, the Caprivi Strip in Namibia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana and the mighty Zambezi River basin, which forms the main artery of the KAZA area.